Mr. Charles Murray Denton II Related Seminars and Products

Partner

Barnes & Thornburg LLP

Ms. Gwendolyn Keyes Fleming Related Seminars and Products

Partner

DLA Piper US

Gwen Fleming advises a wide variety of business, institutional and organizational clients on all aspects of environmental policy, government relations, compliance planning, incident response, subsequent enforcement and litigation matters and special investigations for private and municipal clients. Having worked on matters involving every environmental statute, a significant portion of Gwen’s practice focuses on helping clients understand the regulatory and litigation risks associated with emerging contaminants, including PFAS and ethylene oxide, as well as plastics and asbestos. She also advises clients on environment, social and governance (ESG) issues and the impacts climate change can have on business operations.

Gwen spent more than twenty years in the public sector, serving as both an elected and appointed official at the state and local levels, as well as in various agencies within the federal government. She served as Principal Legal Advisor (General Counsel) for Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and as Chief of Staff to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) during the Obama Administration.

In addition, Gwen served as the EPA Region 4 (Southeastern Region) Regional Administrator (RA), where she was responsible for establishing and implementing environmental policy, including the principles of environmental justice for eight southeastern states and six federally recognized tribes. Gwen finalized the Region's Environmental Justice (EJ) Policy (previously stagnated for 10 years), instituted regular environmental justice information sessions with state partners and communities, and created a Regional EJ Interagency Working Group with other federal agencies to strategically and comprehensively address community concerns. Gwen also instituted the Colleges and Underserved Community Partnership Program (CUPP) which partnered college students with senior federal staff to provide much needed environmental, health and technical services to some of the poorest jurisdictions in their region.

Notably, Gwen is a twice elected District Attorney for the Stone Mountain Judicial Circuit in DeKalb County, Georgia. She was the first African American and first woman to hold that office."

Matthew Z. Leopold Related Seminars and Products

Partner

Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP

Matt advises and defends clients across industries with the strategic insights as former General Counsel for the US Environmental Protection Agency, former General Counsel for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and a former environmental litigator at the US Department of Justice.

Clients look to Matt to provide pragmatic and strategic solutions to complex regulatory, litigation and enforcement challenges facing their operations. Matt provides his clients with in-depth experience and knowledge respecting the pivotal recent changes in environmental regulation. As EPA General Counsel, he counseled on the development and defense of virtually every significant regulation proposed by EPA since 2017 and was personally involved in the highest profile environmental cases during that time, including two precedent setting environmental cases in the Supreme Court, County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund and Atlantic Richfield Co. v. Christian. At EPA, Matt helped draft the Affordable Clean Energy Rule (the repeal and replacement of the Clean Power Plan) and the Navigable Waters Protection Rule (the new definition of the Waters of the United States (WOTUS)), the Clean Water Act Section 401 Certification Rule, the Safe Affordable Fuel-Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles Rule (regulating tailpipe emissions from passenger cars and light duty trucks), and other rulemakings. Additionally, Matt served as the chief attorney at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection advising on state policy and regulatory matters in regard to air, water, waste and public lands for the Department Secretary and the Governor’s Office. In light of this experience, Matt is able to provide deep insight into the regulatory processes of federal and state agencies in advising clients in permitting, compliance, and enforcement defense matters.

Matt has experience in an array of major federal environmental statutes, including the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), as well as the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Endangered Species Act (ESA). In the chemical regulation space, he assisted in implementing the new TSCA framework, working on the first set of chemical risk evaluations required under the new statute, and he counseled on major pesticide registration decisions, litigation and ESA consultations under FIFRA. Matt also assisted on EPA’s recent per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) action plan, to chart a course on regulatory actions to address issues with respect to manufacturing, cleanup, and drinking water protection. With this experience, Matt is regarded as a strategic advisor to Fortune 500 clients offering advice to help advance their business objectives while limiting exposure and risk to the company.

Matt also has significant experience as a litigator for the government and in the private sector, with particular knowledge in developing expert testimony. At the Department of Justice, he was a member of the trial team for the largest civil enforcement in history. In state government, he led the first enforcement action related to hydraulically fractured oil and gas extraction in the southwest Florida region and successfully argued an appeal in the 11th Circuit in the long running Everglades case. In private practice, he represented the State of Florida, in a water rights dispute with the State of Georgia before the US Supreme Court, resulting in a month long trial before a court appointed special master. Matt presented and examined expert witnesses, including developing testimony on the potential sea level rise impacts of climate change. He also successfully represented an industry leading chemical company in litigation over a Clean Water Act Total Maximum Daily Load in an interstate water body. Matt has worked on incident response teams and understands the delicate interplay between responsiveness and brand preservation. 

Based on his experience in both public service and private practice, Matt is particularly well versed in the legal ramifications and the changing climate of environmental regulations affecting the oil & gas, mining, chemical, and renewable energy industries.
Matt is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States.
 

Stan Meiburg Ph.D. Related Seminars and Products

Executive Director

The Andrew Sabin Family Center for Environment and Sustainability- Wake Forest University

Dr. Stan Meiburg serves as the Executive Director of The Andrew Sabin Family Center for Environment and Sustainability. Prior to that he worked as the Director of the Master of Arts in Sustainability Program and associated dual degree and certificate programs at Wake Forest University as well as working with the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences .

Meiburg served as Acting Deputy Administrator for the EPA from 2014 to 2017, capping a 39-year career with the agency. He is known for leading efforts to protect the nation’s air and water, clean up hazardous and toxic waste sites, build collaborative relationships with state and tribal environmental programs, and promote sound management in EPA.

Meiburg joined the EPA in 1977 in Washington, D.C., and later served as Deputy Regional Director of the EPA’s Atlanta office and as the Deputy Regional Administrator in Dallas, Texas. He was only the second person in the agency’s history to serve as Deputy Regional Administrator in more than one region. From 1985 to 1990, he served with the EPA’s Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards in Research Triangle Park.

Mr. James Wyatt Kendall Related Seminars and Products

Partner

Morris Manning & Martin LLP

Wyatt Kendall focuses his practice on brownfield redevelopment and urban renewal projects and routinely advises local and national industrial, multi-family, mixed-use, and retail clients on the acquisition, development, disposition, management, and financing of properties with significant environmental issues and properties within urban and industrial areas across the country. He also represents corporate and lending clients on environmental issues in the context of a host of corporate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions. In this capacity, Wyatt undertakes and oversees environmental due diligence and regulatory processes, works with consultants, engineers, and other environmental professionals to evaluate and quantify potential liabilities, and drafts and negotiates agreements and environmental insurance policies to effectively allocate the risk of environmental liabilities between the parties.

Chris Bartley Related Seminars and Products

Environmental Scientist

Terracon: Consulting Engineers and Scientists

Mr. Bartley is a Senior Scientist with Terracon Consultants Inc. Chris holds a BS in Environmental Science from Lander University and an MS in Geochemistry from Georgia Tech. His graduate research focused on freshwater biogeochemical cycling in the Chattahoochee River in Georgia. After graduate school, Chris worked for the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control completing site assessments for state and federal Superfund (HRS) scoring.  Mr. Bartley has been with Terracon in Columbia, South Carolina since 2006. Chris’ professional practice primarily focuses on state and federal brownfields redevelopment in the Southeast; independent data validation, usability, and environmental statistics consulting for assessment and remediation projects nationally; and consulting/design regarding chemistry on a variety of in situ chemical oxidation and biologically-enhanced remediation projects nationwide. Mr. Bartley is an Environmental Professional under ASTM 1527-13 and a Terracon Authorized Project Reviewer (APR) for Site Investigation. Currently, Mr. Bartley serves as Terracon’s technical leader for site investigation and remediation in the Southeast Division (Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and Washington DC).

Michael Traynham Related Seminars and Products

Of Counsel - Environmental

Maynard Nexsen

Michael Traynham is an experienced environmental law attorney based in the firm's Columbia, South Carolina office. As a member of the Real Estate & Environmental practice group, he brings his trial experience and comprehensive knowledge on a wide variety of South Carolina environmental issues when advising his clients.

Prior to joining the firm, Michael worked for Fort Jackson as an in-house Environmental Law Attorney. There he advised the installation's Department of Public Works on numerous environmental issues, including groundwater, dam safety, hazardous waste management, and NEPA compliance. Michael also previously served as Chief Counsel for Environmental Quality Control at the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. His responsibilities included overseeing legal services for the Bureau of Water, Bureau of Air Quality, and Bureau of Land and Waste Management, as well as advising agency staff on environmental permitting and enforcement issues affecting the State of South Carolina.

Michael received his B.S. from the University of South Carolina Honors College and his J.D. from the University of South Carolina School of Law. While in Law School, Michael served as a research editor for the South Carolina Law Review, as Vice President of the Christian Legal Society, and worked as both a Guardian ad Litem for Richland County and as a Faculty Research Assistant.

Michael previously served as a Law Clerk to the firm in the summer of 2005.

Leonard Diprima Related Seminars and Products

Executive Vice President

United Consulting

Leonard Diprima has 38 years of experience in simple and complex environmental assessment, remediation, permitting and regulatory compliance for private sector and government clients. His projects have focused on Brownfields, TSCA, State Superfund and Voluntary Programs and UST Programs. He has designed and managed multifaceted projects from initial Phase 1 evaluation through complex remediation where necessary, and community interaction where required, working hand in hand with environmental counsel. Mr. Diprima began his “environmental” career with Georgia Power Company’s Environmental Affairs Remediation Group, where he worked for 9 years. He has been in consulting since 1996 and is an Executive Vice President at United Consulting in Norcross, Georgia. He obtained a B.S. and an M.S. in geology from Emory University with Master’s influence in hydrogeology.

Kaitlyn S. Rhonehouse Related Seminars and Products

Senior Principal Engineer

Geosyntec Consultants of NC, P.C.

Kaitlyn Rhonehouse is a Senior Principal Engineer based in North Carolina with more than 14 years of experience focused on the assessment and remediation of contaminated properties, property transaction environmental due diligence, compliance and permitting evaluations, valuation of environmental liability, brownfields negotiations and redevelopment, and vapor intrusion assessment and mitigation.

Mr. Nicholas Helms Howell Related Seminars and Products

Partner

King & Spalding LLP

Nicholas Howell specializes in complex litigation involving toxic and environmental torts, class actions, mass torts, and related matters. Nicholas litigates environmental citizen suits and permit challenges and disputes involving chemical exposure, groundwater contamination, air emissions, personal injury, stormwater, water rights, and property rights.  Nicholas has counseled and represented clients in litigation related to most of the major federal environmental laws, including the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, CERCLA, and others as well as many counterpart state laws.  Nicholas also frequently provides counsel on OSHA compliance and other process safety issues.  Nicholas combines this subject matter expertise with substantial courtroom experience, having tried multiple cases to verdict in federal and state courts and administrative agencies. 

Samina M. Bharmal Related Seminars and Products

Senior Sustainability Counsel

HP Development Company

Samina is Senior Counsel for Sustainability at HP Inc. She advises the company on climate change, human rights, and related governance matters. In her role, she advises the company on business strategy to address investor and consumer demand, compliance with existing and emerging laws in the ESG space, and navigating reputational and legal risk. She was previously Director, Global Emissions Counsel at Cummins Inc. and developed her practice at DOJ and in law firms with a focus on internal investigations. Samina is a board member for the non-profit Lookfar Conservation and a member of the Advisory Council for American University Washington College of Law on energy and environmental law. 

Jonathan Nwagbaraocha Related Seminars and Products

Senior Counsel for Environment Health, Safety and Sustainability

Xerox Corporation

Jonathan is Environment, Health, Safety & Sustainability Counsel and Compliance Leader for Xerox Corporation.  He advises on various environmental, health, safety, and sustainability matters throughout operations as well as related areas within supply chain and procurement and enterprise governance on a global basis. As Compliance Leader, he ensures that the organization is in full statutory compliance with applicable laws and requirements in our industry as well as internal policies. In these roles he uses his experience, practical compliance knowledge, and project management skills to provide legal advice and design innovative compliance processes.  He is also Chair-Elect of the American Bar Association’s Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources (SEER).  He holds a B.A. in Environmental Science and Policy from Duke University, an M.P.P from the University of Maryland School of Public Policy, and a J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law.

Brittainy Cavender Related Seminars and Products

Associate

Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, LLP

Brittainy is an associate in the firm’s Energy, Environment and Infrastructure practice group. She advises clients on matters regarding the Department of Energy, including drafting self-reports of violations and participating in settlement negotiations. She is also well versed and provides legal advice on Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regulations and guidance.

Brittainy brings a unique perspective to her practice, having worked as an operations research analyst of the U.S. Air Force prior to law school, where she helped develop models to calculate the life cycle cost of USAF weapons systems, analysed USAF capabilities, and determine recruitment and retention needs.

Brittainy received her J.D. from Washington University School of Law in St. Louis and Master of Engineering in Operations Research from the University of Texas. While in law school, Brittainy was the Executive Notes Editor - Washington University Jurisprudence Review, a member of the Dean’s Student Advisory Council, the Women’s Law Caucus, and Phi Alpha Delta.

James Joyce Related Seminars and Products

Assistant Professor of Public Law and Government

University of NC School of Government

Jim Joyce is an Assistant Professor of Public Law and Government at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Government, where he teaches, advises, and researches on laws related to development regulation, municipal annexation, and environmental protection. Among his teaching duties, Professor Joyce administers the certification course and exam for North Carolina zoning officials and frequently trains local government board members across the state. He also posts regularly to the School’s local government law blog Coates Canons, recently released a primer on brownfields redevelopment for public property owners, is co-author of two School of Government books, and has contributed chapters to the forthcoming publications Annexation Law in North Carolina and County and Municipal Government. One of his recent publications was awarded the School’s Margaret Taylor Writing Award. Before joining the School of Government in 2020, he practiced environmental and land use law in the Raleigh office of a global law firm for over ten years. Professor Joyce holds a bachelor’s degree with highest honors from UNC-Chapel Hill, a master of community planning degree from the University of Maryland, and a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law.

Stephen T. Parascandola Related Seminars and Products

Smith Anderson, LLP

Steve Parascandola is recognized as one of North Carolina's leading environmental, health and safety lawyers by Chambers USA: America's Leading Business Lawyers, The Best Lawyers in America©, Marquis' Who's Who in American Law, Business North Carolina's Legal Elite, and North Carolina Super Lawyers. He leads Smith Anderson's Environmental Law Practice group.
Steve began his career as an environmental, health and safety attorney in the New York City office of a prominent regional law firm. Prior to joining Smith Anderson in 1996, he also spent almost four years as Senior Enforcement Counsel for the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality.  His current practice involves many substantive areas of environmental, OSHA and land use law, including the State and Federal CERCLA, RCRA, UST, FIFRA, TSCA, FDA, FSMA, USDA/APHIS, Dry Cleaner Solvent and Brownfields Programs. His practice also includes toxic tort (asbestos, PFAS and PCB), water quality, landfill, storm water, and wetlands issues. In addition, Steve advises clients in the biotechnology, pesticide, agricultural, pharmaceutical and food management industries with respect to registrations, certifications, labeling, permits, and regulatory compliance. He is a registered lobbyist in North Carolina.

While a partner at Smith Anderson, Steve has held various leadership positions, most recently serving as a member of the firm’s Partnership Admission and Compensation Committees.
 

Alton Brown Related Seminars and Products

Principal

Resource & Land Consultants

Alton Brown, Jr. is a Savannah, Georgia native and graduate of the University of Georgia Warnell School of Forest Resources. His professional career has focused on environmental consulting. From 1997 thru 2007, he served as project manager and principal for two environmental consulting firms and managed projects in South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Alabama. In 2007, Alton co-founded Resource & Land Consultants (RLC) which is a natural resources consulting firm focusing on wetland regulation compliance and permitting. Alton has and continues to participate in the development and management of both freshwater and tidal mitigation banks in Georgia and South Carolina. He has participated in a wide variety of private and public projects and has served clients in the private residential, commercial, industrial, mining, and forest industries as well as governmental clients from local municipalities to state agencies. As co-owner and operator of RLC, Alton focuses on project procurement and management, client management, and marketing. Alton is a Society of Wetland Scientists certified Professional Wetland Scientist (PWS), graduate and former board member of the Institute for Georgia Environmental Leadership, graduate of Leadership Georgia, member of the Georgia Environmental Restoration Association, member of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Coastal Advisory Council, member of the Executives Association of Savannah, and a former board member of the Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce.

Mr. Stephen Alexander McCullers Related Seminars and Products

Partner

Morris Manning & Martin LLP

Stephen McCullers is a Partner with Morris, Manning & Martin’s environmental group.  Stephen focuses his practice on the environmental remediation and brownfield redevelopment of environmentally impacted properties. Stephen represents developers and lenders on complex environmental issues associated with the acquisition, remediation, development, and financing of environmentally challenging properties. Stephen also has extensive experience advising and representing clients regarding environmental compliance issues related to hazardous waste management, wetlands and stream buffer permitting, air emissions permitting, and health and safety matters.  Prior to obtaining his law license, Stephen worked for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a Natural Resources Specialist where he managed federally-owned natural resources and issued Regional Permits under the Clean Water Act.

Jason O'Kane Related Seminars and Products

Regulatory Chief

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Mr. Jason O’Kane has been Savannah District’s Regulatory Division Chief since the summer of 2020.  Regulatory enforces Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act and Section 404 of the Clean Water Act through permits for work and structures in navigable waters of the United States and for the discharge of dredged or fill material into waters of the United States, wetlands and streams.From 2016 to 2020, Jason served as the Chief of the Navigation Management Branch maintaining Savannah and Brunswick Harbors and the Georgia portion of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. From 2008 to 2016 Jason served as the senior project manager in the Savannah District for one of the Corps of Engineers’ most complex projects, the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project, leading the project through study, design and into construction. Previous experience also includes almost a decade as a Regulatory project manager, South Atlantic Division’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Regional Regulatory Center Chief, Civil Works project manager, Park Ranger, Emergency Management NEPA compliance officer and a detail at Headquarters USACE in Washington, DC. 

Noelle DeStefano Related Seminars and Products

PFAS Lead, Southeast

Eurofins Environmental Testing

Dr. Noelle DeStefano is the PFAS Lead for Eurofins Environment Testing Southeast, and is responsible for expanding PFAS testing capabilities and supporting nationwide Eurofins labs through method implementation, validation, development and improvement efforts. She has over 10 years of experience in analysis of and method development for emerging contaminants and environmental pollutants using analytical techniques such as LCMS and GCMS. She collaborates with interdisciplinary teams of government, academic and industry partners to stay current on the latest scientific trends and analytical needs related to PFAS and other environmental contaminants. Noelle holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Chemistry from Duke University and a B.S. in Chemical Oceanography from Florida Institute of Technology.

Dr. Jaana Pietari Related Seminars and Products

Senior Managing Consultant

Ramboll

Dr. Jaana Pietari is a Senior Managing Consultant with Ramboll, and she specializes in source identification, environmental forensics and fate & transport evaluation of contaminants, including PFAS. She has been engaged by clients for litigation support, cost allocation, liability estimates, product/material evaluations, site conceptual model development/receptor assessments and clean-up standard determination on many sites across the U.S. and globally. With more than 20 years of professional and academic experience, she has helped many clients make well-informed, scientifically defensible decisions regarding PFAS. Dr. Pietari received MSE in Environmental and Energy Technology from Tampere University of Technology, Finland; MSE and PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering from University of Washington, and MBA from Babson College.

Carl Solomon Related Seminars and Products

Founder & Managing Attorney

Solomon Law Group

Carl L. Solomon is a native of Columbia, South Carolina and is the owner of the Solomon Law Group, LLC.  He concentrates his practice primarily in personal injury law and wrongful death claims from motor vehicle collisions, medical malpractice, and nursing home cases.  Carl has worked on mass injury, class action, and multi district litigation to include: JUUL, AFFF, Graniteville Train Derailment, Sofa Super Store (represented families of 3 of the 9 deceased firefighters), Amtrak Train Derailment (Cayce, SC), Amtrak Train Derailment (Halifax, NC), and Roper St. Francis Data Breach.  

Hon. Joy Lampley-Fortson Related Seminars and Products

Assistant Chief Immigration Judge

US Department of Justice

Judge Joy Lampley-Fortson is an Assistant Chief Immigration Judge with the United States Department of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Review. In March 2019, the United States Attorney General appointed her to become an Assistant Chief Immigration Judge.  In this capacity, Judge Lampley-Fortson serves as the Chief Judge of three federal immigration courts in the State of Georgia. She is responsible for providing overall leadership for the administration of the courts and the judges, law clerks and staff members within those courts. Furthermore, she presides over immigration cases and ensures that the legal proceedings before the court provides due process to all litigants. 

Prior to her appointment as a judge, Judge Lampley-Fortson served as the Executive Director of the Georgia Commission on Equal Opportunity, the State of Georgia’s civil rights agency.  In March 2017, Governor Nathan Deal appointed her to lead the agency and by doing so, entrusted her with the responsibility to work with the federal government to enforce the equal employment and fair housing laws across the State of Georgia.   Prior to her gubernatorial appointment, Judge Lampley-Fortson served as an Assistant Chief Counsel with the United States Department of Homeland Security, Immigration & Customs Enforcement, Office of the Chief Counsel, where she represented DHS before the U.S. Department of Justice Executive Office for Immigration Review (Immigration Court) and the U.S. Department of Justice Board of Immigration Appeals for ten years.  From 2001 until 2007, Judge Lampley-Fortson served as an Assistant United States Attorney with the United States Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Georgia (Atlanta Office).  As an Assistant U.S. Attorney, she practiced in federal court where she prosecuted defendants in cases that ranged from white-collar crime to violent crime and litigated numerous appellate matters before the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.  Prior to joining the United States Attorney’s Office, she represented the City of Atlanta as a prosecutor.  She served as an Assistant Solicitor with the City of Atlanta Solicitor’s Office from 1997 until 2001.   

A native of St. Petersburg, Florida, Judge Lampley-Fortson graduated magna cum laude from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Public Relations and earned her Juris Doctor Degree from the University of Florida College of Law. 

Hon. Shondeana Crews Morris Related Seminars and Products

Judge

DeKalb County Superior Court

Judge Shondeana Morris was appointed to the DeKalb County Superior Court on June 17, 2019. Prior to Judge Morris’ appointment, she served as a DeKalb County State Court Judge.

Judge Morris earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from The University of Georgia and a Master’s degree in Criminal Justice from Albany State University. She graduated from Mercer University’s Walter F. George School of Law in 1997 and was admitted to the Georgia Bar that same year.

After graduating from law school, Judge Morris served as an Assistant Solicitor in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1999, she joined the Fulton County Office of the District Attorney and was promoted to Deputy District Attorney. As Deputy District Attorney, Judge Morris provided leadership to the Public Integrity Unit, where she worked to ensure public trust in local government and law enforcement; the Crimes Against Women and Children Unit, where she worked to protect families and children; and the Community Prosecution Unit, where she worked with communities and criminal justice partners to provide safe neighborhoods. In recognition of her outstanding trial expertise, Judge Morris received the Association of Government Attorneys in Capital Litigation Trial Advocacy Award in 2009.

Judge Morris is involved with many professional, civic, and religious organizations. She is a member of the State Bar of Georgia, the American Bar Association, the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys, the DeKalb Bar Association, the DeKalb Lawyers Association, the Gate City Bar Association, and the Lawyers Club of Georgia. She serves on several committees for the State Bar of Georgia. Judge Morris also served on the Georgia Judicial Nominating Commission, and she is the former chair of the Gate City Bar Association Judicial Section. Judge Morris serves as a proud member of the University of Georgia Alumni Board of Directors and Mercer University Law School Alumni BALSA Council.

An alumnus of Leadership DeKalb, Judge Morris served for nearly a decade as an Executive Board Member of the International Women’s House, a non-profit domestic violence shelter, a member of the Stone Mountain-Lithonia chapter of Jack and Jill of America, Inc., and a member of the Lions Club. Committed to the development of young people, she is a member of the Criminal Justice Advisory Board for Atlanta Technical College and frequently serves as a mentor and speaker on topics ranging from law and ethics to mental and physical wellness. Judge Morris is the State Bar of Georgia Suicide Awareness and Prevention committee chairperson and travels the country providing education and awareness to end deaths by suicide. Judge Morris also serves as the past chairperson of DeKalb County CASA.